


find you

by littlescallion



Category: GOT7, JJ Project
Genre: Angst, Explicit Language, M/M, Mentions of Death, Mild Hurt/Comfort, it's probably confusing but what's new, plot holes everywhere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 08:39:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16384847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlescallion/pseuds/littlescallion
Summary: Jinyoung loathed his life in the countryside where nothing ever happens. Jaebeom struggled to find a sense of purpose in the middle of his mundane city life. When they woke up one day to see that their wishes were coming true, they quickly realized that they got more than they bargained for.Based on Kimi no Na wa/Your Name by Makoto Shinkai





	find you

**Author's Note:**

> I finished watching Kimi no Na wa a couple days ago and this idea hadn't left me since. Didn't think I would actually finish but woop woop, I did it! Most of the story was based on the film, but not entirely. There are some changes here and there (please don't ask me about the plot holes or the logic behind the events.. please..)  
> On to the story!

Jinyoung loathed his life in the countryside where nothing ever happens. Jaebeom struggles to find a sense of purpose in the middle of his mundane city life. When they woke up one day to see that their wishes were coming true, they quickly realized that they got more than they bargained for.

\--

“Jinyoung hyung, if you meet a genie that will grant you three wishes, what will you ask for?”

Jinyoung stopped gutting the fish to contemplate Youngjae’s question. “Hm. I don’t know. Money, probably? Or rather, perhaps first I should ask the genie to get me out of this town…”

Youngjae chuckled at the response. “You never stopped hating this town, do you, hyung?”

“Don’t you?” Jinyoung returned the question, poking at the fish with the tip of his knife. “Everywhere you go, you only smell salt and fish gut. You know every single person in the city down to their personal problems. It’s stuffy, this small town.”

“Well, I don’t hate it.” Youngjae smiled. “In fact, if I’m meeting the genie, I’d wish for this town to exist forever. The fishes, the people – well, maybe not the people. Just the fishes and our business.”

“You should be my dad’s son instead of me.” Jinyoung grinned at his younger cousin before resuming his work. “He needs an heir who is as passionate as he is about this fish business. Me, I’d run away from this city the moment I had the chance.”

“Say you _can_ leave this city for good, what do you want to do?”

Jinyoung ran his sharp knife along the bottom of the fish, cutting a hole wide enough to pull out the intestines. His precision remained unchanged despite his thoughts running somewhere else.

“Now that you mentioned it… I never really thought about it much. I think even the life of a regular office worker in Seoul might be better than all this.”

_Elsewhere, in Seoul._

Jaebeom leaned against the glass wall of the office balcony. Rows and rows of materials he needed to review had left his head clouded and murky. His fingers toyed with the cigarette inside his pocket, considering a quick smoke, but ultimately he stuffed the cigarette box deeper. Instead, he pulled out a lollipop.

“Sticking to the healthy habits?” His coworker slash best friend, Mark, grinned as he took his place beside Jaebeom. The young American had a lit cigarette between his own fingers. Jaebeom murmured unintelligibly as a response, busying himself with his lollipop and the notes in his phone.

Mark was watching him, taking slow drags from his cigarette as his eyes quietly followed the movement of Jaebeom’s nimble fingers. Jaebeom typed quickly with one hand, he noted. He was trained to handle the smartphone using one hand while the other hand was occupied. Or when his body was pressed between waves of people in his daily commute to work. Jaebeom was constantly typing, taking notes, pouring out his heart in words.

“I think it’s worth trying, Jarbs.” Mark commented after a short while, noticing that Jaebeom’s thumb wasn’t moving as quickly as it had been. “I know you’re still writing songs. And you’re doing great at work but clearly a guy like you isn’t cut for a desk job. You gotta go out there and write your own music, man.”

“The bills aren’t gonna pay itself, Tuan.” Jaebeom shoved his phone back into his pocket and bit on his lollipop noisily. “It sounds great if I’m 16 but I’m 25. Real world is not as forgiving as it is in songs.”

He threw the lollipop stick into the trashcan and moved past Mark, back into the office where he’d jam his head between piles of documents –again. Mark just sighed as he took one last, long drag from his dying cigarette.

“When I said it’s worth trying, I’m not telling you to do it all alone, Jarbo-mumbo.”

\--

Jinyoung was returning from his final delivery of the day when he first noticed the wound.

It wasn’t a big cut, probably around an inch in length, located just below his left thumb. He frowned as he noticed the odd position and shape of the wound. Was it the scaling knife? It was highly unlikely since he had learned to scale and gut fishes since he was a teen. Besides, he surely would realize a cut that deep when it happened – would he?

He must’ve been standing there for quite a while when Sungjin showed up – the slightly older male was his childhood friend and one of the few young people that remained in the island. Sungjin’s grandparents had an inn near the heart of the island. It was an inherited family business, much like Jinyoung’s family’s fish store, but Sungjin’s family skipped a generation and went straight from his grandparents to him. His father was an adept politician with zero interest in managing the inn. Thus, Sungjin inherited the inn when he was 18 while his father went on to further his career in politics. Now, Sungjin’s father was the town mayor and Sungjin was the owner of their family inn. Sometimes, Jinyoung envied the older male. They were both sons who bore the weight of the family business upon their shoulders – but Sungjin was clearly dedicated to his role. Unlike himself.

“Hello, Jinyoung. Feeling sane today?”

Jinyoung frowned at the odd greeting. Sungjin usually asked him about the fish or his parents or Youngjae, but ‘sane’ had never been used before. He raised a brow, demanding explanation.

“Judging from that annoying glare, I’d say the normal Jinyoung is back.” Sungjin snickered. “What was that yesterday? Youngjae said you might be practicing acting but damn, you gotta be an amazing actor to just lose the entirety of your dialect like that in one day.”

“I did what?” Jinyoung exclaimed, tone going up and down in thick Busan dialect. Sungjin guffawed at the sound.

“There! That’s Jinyoung. I don’t know if that was acting or amnesia, but you literally spoke in Seoul style for the whole day yesterday. Not to mention that your gutting skills seemed to have plummeted. It was like you were possessed by a clueless dude from the mainland.”

“Is that also why I cut myself?” Jinyoung mumbled and examined the wound one more time. It had healed enough to form a scar but not fully. If he cut himself only the day before, that would make more sense.

But Jinyoung was pretty sure that he didn’t do anything of that sort. As far as he remembered, his day went by like usual. The only thing worth mentioning from the day before was eating Youngjae’s homemade ice cream after dinner. And how he passed right out afterwards despite his habit of staying up late.

And the headache this morning… his vague recollections of a dream…

Jinyoung turned quickly towards Sungjin, nearly toppling over the older male. “Hyung!” He called urgently, ignoring Sungjin’s confusion.

“Youngjae’s homemade ice cream – was it last night, or the night before that?”

\--

“Is Jerbert still speaking the foreign language?”

Jackson draped himself over Jaebeom’s cubicle, completely disregarding the latter’s annoyed sigh. Mark’s head popped from behind the separator. “Nope. Looks like the aliens have returned his body today.”

“And the aliens are gonna feast on your dead bodies if you don’t stop bothering me.” Jaebeom spoke through gritted teeth. He had enough workload to sort through for the day – there was no time for Jackson and Mark’s regular distractions.

Mark pointed at him with the tip of his pen. “See? Our regular Jarbo. None of that weird, timid guy who spoke gibberish. Oh and for the record Jacks, I asked Daniel from IT and he said it was not foreign language. This dumbass was speaking Busan dialect.”

“Busan dialect?” Jaebeom frowned. “I’ve never spoken a single word in Busan dialect.”

Mark raised a brow. “You know, I would believe that if you didn’t do exactly that just yesterday. I can call Daniel and have him confirm it if you want.”

“Stop talking nonsense.” Jaebeom returned to his papers, waving an irritated hand towards his coworkers. “Jacks, if you really have nothing to do, you’d better go downtown and bring us some Japanese food for lunch. The beef teriyaki yesterday was awesome.”

Jaebeom didn’t notice anything weird in what he said until he realized that Jackson and Mark were staring at him oddly. “What?”

Jackson cleared his throat. “I don’t know if you had amnesia or anything but, uh – Jeff? We had Japanese _two days ago_. Not yesterday.”

\--

 ** _Jaebeom_** sat up on his bed, confused.

He had accepted the invitation to get some drinks from some coworkers last night. They went to the usual bar, got the usual drinks, and spent the night talking and socializing. He had always been pretty confident in his alcohol tolerance, and everyone knows it’s bad manners to refuse a drink from your superiors. So he took a glass, then another, and it just kept going…

And now he woke up with a bad headache. His eyesight was a little blurry and he could barely recognize the room he woke up in, and for a short millisecond his heart stopped. _Where the fuck am I??_ He wondered to himself as he looked down, finding unfamiliar clothes and sheets. Even the back of his hand looked a little different.

 ** _Jaebeom_** ’s head spun as he stood up, stared directly at the mirror on the wall, and found a stranger’s face staring back.

If he had been cursing to himself for the last ten minutes, he was letting it all out now.

**_“WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.”_ **

\--

A persistent ringing roused **_Jinyoung_** from his deep sleep. He frowned and grabbed around blindly, trying to find the source of the annoying noise. Much to his irritation, he couldn’t find anything and was sent tumbling down to the ground instead.

“What in the fresh hell.” He grumbled as he sat cross-legged on the floor, finally finding the noisy little item. The phone alarm, apparently, had been ringing for the past ten minutes. **_Jinyoung_** begrudgingly turned it off and only then that he realized the oddity all around him.

“This is not my room.” He marveled out loud. The bed he fell from was supported by a tall frame and pressed onto the wall. **_Jinyoung_** ’s room had no bed frame – his futon was placed on the floor right in the middle of the room. There was a suit hanging on the wall and a corkboard with various photos next to it. The desk on his right was full of bits and pieces.

It was _definitely_ not his room, and **_Jinyoung_** just realized that he didn’t even recognize the clothes he was wearing.

Or his legs. Or his arms.

“This is… just a _dream,_ right??”

\--

 ** _Jaebeom_** had spent his entire morning trying not to freak out, and now he was considerably calmer.

The young man who ran into his room after he screamed had a cute round face and innocent, questioning eyes. It was his confused ‘ _Jinyoung hyung, what’s wrong?_ ’ that gave **_Jaebeom_** a vague idea of what was happening. He had feared that he had drunkenly stumbled into someone’s house last night, but his current situation seemed to be more complicated than that. He wasn’t just in this _Jinyoung_ ’s _house_ , he was in his _body_.

The old man – _Jinyoung’s father_? – excused him from his daily job and let him walk around for the morning. Said he would rather have a slower day in the dock than to have Jinyoung to hurt himself again ( _again?_ ). Thus, **_Jaebeom_** was strolling by the sea all alone, trying to clear his head and find clues.

Last night, when he left the office, he was still himself. He went out drinking with some coworkers, but Mark and Jackson excused themselves early in the night. He wound up being the youngest one in the group, and everyone kept asking him to have another glass. It was a considerable amount of alcohol and more than what he would normally drink, but he was certain that it was still within his tolerance limits. After all, he was a college graduate… and the whole universe knew what college students are like when it comes to alcohol.

But clearly, he was knocked out after the alcohol, and he woke up in this unfortunate stranger’s body.

What confused Jaebeom more was the idea that this had happened before. The old man implied that he had seen Jinyoung acting weird and accidentally cutting himself while gutting fish. Youngjae’s expression didn’t come from the surprise of witnessing something _new_. Rather, it was concern over an anomaly that kept coming and going.

Could it have something to do with the random headaches he had been getting lately? And the hazy, clouded thoughts that floated over his mind several times a day? He felt like he was forgetting something important, but he didn’t have any slight idea of what it was. He felt like he was paddling through muddy water in pitch darkness.

“Jinyoung!”

The voice bounced off **_Jaebeom_** ’s eardrums and he ignored the call.

“ _Jinyoung!_ ”

The voice called again, louder, with a hand grabbing his shoulder this time – and **_Jaebeom_** finally turned his attention towards the speaker. “You were talking to me?”

“As if there are so many Jinyoungs in this place.” The person grumbled and in an instant, **_Jaebeom_** realized that he was _Jinyoung_. He murmured a barely audible string of apologies.

“What are you doing here at this hour? Shouldn’t you be doing deliveries?” This stranger with short cropped hair inqured and **_Jaebeom_** found himself flustered at the question.

“The old man – he gave me a break for today.”

The stranger studied his face intently and sighed. “Great. The clueless mainland guy is back, isn’t he?”

“The what?” **_Jaebeom_** frowned at the odd statement, prompting a laugh from the other male.

“Bet you’re going to ask who I am again after this. I’m Sungjin – _Sungjin hyung to you_ – and I’m going to start getting mad if you forget me again. You’ve been acting very weird lately, Jinyoung. It’s like you’re possessed one day and forget everything the next day.”

“That’s how it is?” **_Jaebeom_** was speaking more to himself than to Sungjin.

Sungjin was staring at him oddly but Jaebeom completely ignored him. The gears in his brain began to turn slowly and soon enough, an idea came to mind. He started searching himself furiously and after not finding what he wanted, he immediately sprinted away from the dock without saying another word.

\--

 ** _Jinyoung_** laid his head on the desk, defeated.

He just got scolded for the fourth time in a row after doing yet another wrong thing with the documents. Come to think of it, it wasn’t even that big of a mistake. Wrong spacing, printing on one side when he was supposed to do double side, page number on the side instead of the middle, etc etc etc. He didn’t think it would be that big of a deal, but perhaps in such a big company that has a huge office building, even the length of one’s socks mattered a lot.

His moment of self-loathing was interrupted by a gentle poke on his waist, coming from the adjacent cubicle. A blond head was peeking slightly behind the separator between the two cubicles.

“Jarbs, you okay?” The perpetrator of the poke whispered at him.

Half a day in the office made **_Jinyoung_** realize that this person whose body he was in had a lot of names. His name was _Lim Jaebeom,_ or _Jeff Lim_ as Jinyoung saw in the employee ID card, but this blond guy and his puppy-like friend had been calling him over ten different names within several hours. And **_Jinyoung_** soon learned that whenever somebody yelled out a noise that vaguely resembled a name, it was probably directed at him.

“You don’t look so good.” The blond guy – _or Mark as his employee ID told Jinyoung –_ grimaced at his face and stood up. “Wanna go for a smoke break? More like a lollipop break for you, though.”

 ** _Jinyoung_** decided that following the guy to the balcony was much better than staying in his cubicle with stress piling up around him. The moment he felt fresh air hitting his face, he felt slightly better. Seoul’s air smelled faintly of pollution and no traces of salt like the air in his hometown – nevertheless, it was a much appreciated change from the air-conditioned room where his nose constantly stings.

He saw Mark lighting a cigarette and he rummaged around in his pockets, finding a cigarette box stuffed deep inside his suit pocket. Inside the other pocket, he found a lollipop, and he pulled that out.

As they stood in silence side by side, **_Jinyoung_** ’s thoughts drifted across to the events of the day. After the initial shock of waking up in a stranger’s body, **_Jinyoung_** received urgent calls from several people – including Mark – telling him that he was late to work. He rushed out right then, barely managed to catch the train and arrived in the office to an earful from his boss.

Once upon a time, he wished that he was a regular office worker living in Seoul, and the next day he woke up as one. On one side, **_Jinyoung_** had felt excited about the change of scenery and the new life he imagined. To be able to escape that wretched small island with its fishes and gossiping people – how heavenly! But on the other side, this body must have an original owner. And the owner of this body –

 ** _Jinyoung_** ’s train of thought was interrupted by Mark gently flicking the ashes of his cigarette and asking him in a low voice. “So…” the blond started. “Did you give it another thought, like I told you to?”

“What?” Jinyoung returned the question, ignoring Mark’s annoyed glare with (what he hoped was) a natural gesture.

“Don’t play dumb, Jarbo. Your music. All those lyrics in your phone note. Those songs deserve to be published, Jeff. You can’t let them rot there while your brain rots in this damned office.”

Whatever Mark said afterwards completely escaped **_Jinyoung_** ’s mind as he scrolled through rows and rows of song lyrics in Jaebeom’s notes. He was engrossed in each and every single syllable, singing the soundless tunes in his mind. This Jaebeom guy clearly had talent with songwriting, or at least Jinyoung believed so.

Almost automatically, his fingers moved to create a new note entry.

**_To Jaebeom._ **

**_I think you need to listen to your friend Mark. Your songs are great._ **

**_I’m Jinyoung, by the way._ **

\--

When Jaebeom woke up from a restless sleep, his first instinct was to check his body, clothes, and then room.

He frowned as he realized the peculiarity of the things he had just done. He had been waking up in the same body for 25 years and this room had been his since his last year in university. With good alcohol tolerance and indifference to one-night stands, he had no reason to doubt his identity or his surroundings.

Yet somehow, he did.

There were several unread texts in his phone – the top two being from Mark and Jackson. He ignored most of them and just scrolled past quickly, trying to find anything worth noticing. There was none. As he sat down drinking his strawberry milk, he decided to open the text from Mark, just to see what the American was babbling about. He frowned as he noticed the topic.

_From: Mark T_

_I’m glad you’re finally listening to me_

_I’m gonna send the contacts soon. Make sure you actually call them instead of just stashing the numbers, got it?_

_Brian is an amazing dude. He’s gonna be a great help when you kickstart your music career_

Jaebeom frowned even harder. As far as he remembered, he actually turned down Mark’s suggestion of starting an actual career in music. But the tone of Mark’s texts and the contents itself suggested that Jaebeom had actually shown interest in the idea.

Dismissing it as Mark’s unhealthy obsession over helping him, Jaebeom decided to open the text from Jackson instead. The frown that never left his face grew deeper as he saw the pictures Jackson sent and their captions.

_From: Jackson W_

_[15y34hs65.jpeg]_

_Dude, I can’t believe you’re finally choosing banana over strawberry lmao_

_Told you the banana parfait here is awesome!_

“Banana over strawberry? I would never!” Jaebeom exclaimed, cradling his almost empty carton of strawberry milk protectively. It wasn’t like he hated the taste of bananas, but strawberries are basically an extension of himself. Or the love of his life, whatever. He remembered the tiny little café that had just opened near their office and how Jackson had been persuading him to try their parfaits for days, but he definitely didn’t remember going there. Even more so going to the café and ordering _banana_ parfaits!

The slight headache was coming back and Jaebeom suddenly felt frustrated with himself. The rest of the texts were from various coworkers asking him why his performance in the office suddenly did a nosedive, and Jaebeom didn’t feel like checking them out or responding to them. He was stressed enough with his exhausting dreams (that he never seemed to remember) – he didn’t want to be bothered with more questions.

Jaebeom went to find solace in his phone notes, with the intention of writing down everything that had been bothering him. But his hands froze when he noticed a new entry he didn’t recognize.

**_To Jaebeom._ **

\--

Jinyoung let out a happy sigh when he opened his eyes and found his Shiba Inu plushie staring back.

He had no exact idea why, but finding himself awake in his own room and his own body was a major relief. The last quarter of his dream was an odd one – even though Jinyoung didn’t remember exactly what it was, he recalled bananas and feeling happy. The rest of his dream, he couldn’t remember.

It seemed important, but he couldn’t remember.

Jinyoung rolled over to his side, hugging the plushie as tightly as he could. In a few minutes, Youngjae would be running into his room and yelling about how he was late, but Jinyoung couldn’t care less. He wanted to savor the bliss of being somewhere familiar for a little longer.

Nothing interesting ever showed up on his phone, yet Jinyoung enjoyed scrolling through it nonetheless. He collected pictures of stray cats and it was always nice to look at the photos again, wondering where they might be. But Jinyoung unceremoniously dropped his phone when a reminder popped up and sent his phone buzzing and ringing.

 _What was that_? Jinyoung sat up, thinking hard as nothing in his life was ever important enough for him to set a reminder. For a split second, he wondered if his phone had been possessed or hacked. There was no logical explanation for either, though, so he picked the discarded item back up and took a glimpse.

**_To Jinyoung._ **

**_Do I know you? Do you know me??_ **

**_From Jaebeom._ **

\--

Lim Jaebeom and Park Jinyoung, two different and unrelated people. One was 25 years old and the other 24. One was a corporate employee working in the heart of Seoul, with a stable position and steady income. The other was a fishmonger in a small island off the coast of Busan, getting ready to fully take over the family business. They didn’t know each other, nor could they be related in any way.

Yet somehow, fate played their hands and tangled their lives together in the strangest possible way.

Jaebeom and Jinyoung woke up in each other’s body at random times, unpredictable and with zero discernible patterns. And when they woke up in their own bodies after the exchange, they had no recollections of any events that happened in between. Jinyoung, in his own body, didn’t know a Jaebeom. And vice versa. They made sure not to let anyone around them know about it, either.

The only way Jaebeom and Jinyoung could communicate was through the notes on their phones.

Jaebeom half-yelled at Jinyoung through the letters at first when he found out that it was _Jinyoung_ who somehow had convinced his coworkers that Jaebeom was now addicted to bananas. Jinyoung yelled back at him in retaliation, telling him that it was _Jaebeom’_ s fault that men and women were starting to leave love letters and gifts in his fish stand. When the steam cooled off and rules were established, both of them finally learned to communicate properly and take advantage of the notes.

They would write down anything that happened during the day for each other to learn once they’re back to normal. Food they ate, people they met, conversations they had, everything was recorded in great detail. By doing so, they didn’t miss any element of their own lives and were able to avert suspicion.

As more time passed, the notes evolved to contain not only records of their lives, but their messages for each other. Jinyoung kept persuading Jaebeom to do what Mark suggested and start his career in music instead of wasting away his time in a job he didn’t love. _I would like to listen to your music someday,_ he once wrote. Jaebeom responded by leaving Jinyoung a 15 seconds recording of his composition in the phone.

Their peculiar friendship continued just like that – for weeks, and then months.

Until one day, it suddenly stopped.

\--

“You look half dead.” Jackson commented as he pushed the menu book towards Jaebeom. The two of them plus Mark were sitting in a small café after office hours. It was the same café Jackson recommended – claiming that Jaebeom loved their sweets (Jaebeom vehemently denied the accusations, but Jackson had _proof_ ).

Jaebeom didn’t respond to the comment and focused on the menu instead. He was tired, not only physically but emotionally. It felt like his life was missing an important feature, only he couldn’t put a finger on it. Logically, he shouldn’t even be feeling that. His life was doing great. Work was as boring as ever but the old boss was fired since his corruption scandal was revealed and the new boss wasn’t interested in giving him hell. He eventually started talking to Brian after endless pushes from Mark and the guy was as good as he was advertised, if not more. Life was great, his career and hobby were both on the right tracks, and Jaebeom was, on a single glance, complete.

Yet, deep inside, he knew he was missing something.

Or rather, _someone_.

“You’re scaring the menu book.” Mark muttered as he snatched the item from Jaebeom’s hands. “Stop glaring at it.”

Jaebeom didn’t even realize that he was spacing out. He was thinking of something important and he felt like he was so close to getting answers – but now he didn’t even remember what he was thinking about. _Probably not the menu_ , Jaebeom thought to himself.

“So what are you getting? If you’re still unsure after staring at the menu for ten minutes, I’m gonna fucking deck you.” Jackson said impatiently and Jaebeom blindly pointed to a menu item.

“Uh, parfait. Get me the parfait and black coffee.”

“Which parfait?”

Jaebeom’s mind told him _strawberry,_ so he wasn’t sure why the word coming out of his mouth was “Banana.”

\--

“The harbor looks really busy today.”

Jinyoung squinted his eyes and stared at the ships lined up in the docks. Perhaps he hadn’t been paying attention – for the last few days, he had been attacked with random headaches that appeared and disappeared from time to time. The headaches made it hard to concentrate on anything.

Youngjae chuckled as he picked the bucket off the floor. “You just noticed? Ever since Sungjin hyung’s dad signed the agreement with the mainland to advance our fisheries, new ships were coming and everyone is getting busier.”

“Our fishery is finally getting the upgrade, eh?” Jinyoung nodded absently as his eyes focused on a ship that just left the dock. “Well… as long as they keep in line with our traditions and not ruin the environment…”

“I never knew you cared so much about our culture and traditions.” Youngjae snickered. “Come on hyung, don’t think too much about it. Aren’t you supposed to be seeing a doctor about your headaches today?”

“Yeah, I am.” Jinyoung replied quietly. “Thought I’d just finish the deliveries first. I’ll go to the mainland with the afternoon boat.”

“I hope it’s not serious.” Youngjae smiled up at him, his eyes adorably disappearing in crescents. “Stay safe, hyung.”

“I’m sure it’s not.” Jinyoung smiled back. “Thanks, Jae.”

\--

It was nine in the evening when Jaebeom finally escaped the grips of the subway on his way home. He was so desperate to get out that he got off the train one station before his normal one. He walked slowly among the waves of people, noting the pictures of various sceneries pasted on the wall of the station.

Then he stopped as he noticed a picture of the Busan harbor.

The picture was taken over ten years ago, but Jaebeom recognized the scenery. He had _seen_ it before. It was hard to pinpoint exactly when or how, but he knew he had seen it. He saw it when he was strolling along a beach. Alone. And then somebody called him.

_Jinyoung…_

_Park Jinyoung._

“Park Jinyoung!” Jaebeom’s eyes suddenly snapped open and he strode towards the picture, ignoring the annoyed glare and muttered complaints from people around him. His thoughts suddenly became clearer. He knew a Park Jinyoung – no, not just that, he used to _trade bodies_ with this Park Jinyoung. How long had it been since the last time, again? Ten, twelve days? He couldn’t remember. It was as if one day he was still in Jinyoung’s body, then the next day he was back and his memories disappeared.

But the picture – he recognized the point of view.

“Fancy the picture?”

Someone’s remark startled Jaebeom and in an instant he was back, realizing that he had been staring at the picture like an idiot while the mass hustled and bustled around him. The comment was from an elderly station officer who seemed to have noticed Jaebeom’s fascination.

Jaebeom was flustered at the question, but he quickly regained his composure. “Uh- yeah, kind of. Do you know who took this picture?”

“I do. It was me.” The old man laughed. “Such a long time ago. I was born in that island and I took that picture when I came there to visit. Can’t believe it would be my last time visiting that place…”

“Wow, what a coincidence. I’ve been planning to visit this island for some time now, if only I know where it actually is.” Jaebeom breathed out to calm himself down. He just _had_ to visit the island, he had to see Jinyoung. Now that he found someone who came from the island and could direct him to it, he had no more reasons not to go.

Or so he thought.

The old man stared at him oddly. “What are you saying?”

“Er- I want to visit the island? I mean – one of my friends lived there – and he showed me a picture of it, telling me it was such a beautiful place and…”

Jaebeom was rambling, trying to find his words, becoming more and more flustered as he noticed the old man’s expression getting darker. “Uh- is there anything wrong with what I said?”

“I was just wondering if we were talking about the same island.” The old man sighed, his eyes suddenly clouded with sadness. “I mean – it _was_ a beautiful island, when it existed…”

“What do you mean?” Jaebeom frowned.

“Do you not remember? Two years ago, a boat carrying illegal explosives for fishing capsized just as it left the port. It triggered the explosives and they all went off at once. The tsunami that happened afterwards wiped out the entire island.”

The world, for Jaebeom, stopped for a second.

He began to stammer as he tried to comprehend the old man’s words. “W-what do you mean? Wiped out? But- just two weeks ago I—”

He rummaged in his pockets, fishing out his phone with great urgency. He wanted to show the old man the notes from Jinyoung, dates and all, to prove that Jinyoung was _real_ and _existing_ until two weeks ago. He went to the notes app at once, quickly scrolling through to find the collection of entries titled ‘ ** _To Jaebeom_**.’

There was no such entry.

\--

“Are you sure about that?”

“I’m not _crazy_ , Jackson.” Jaebeom gritted his teeth and barely held back from slamming his fists on the table. “You _remember_ those days where I suddenly spoke gibberish. You remember those days where I suddenly lost _all_ of my knowledge about my own job. You remember the days where I suddenly like _bananas_. That wasn’t me, that was _Jinyoung_!”

“Yeah, but…” Jackson and Mark exchanged hesitant glances. “This Park Jinyoung you were talking about – he _died_ two years ago, Jeff. We found his name in the list of casualties. He was in the _passenger manifest_ of the exploding boat, no less. The island doesn’t even exist anymore!”

“I don’t know.” Jaebeom cradled his head on two hands, elbows pressed urgently against the table surface. “I don’t understand any of this either. But Jinyoung _came_ to me. Do you think it would happen without a purpose? He exchanged bodies with me because I’m supposed to _find out_ about this. I’m supposed to _save_ him.”

“How, though?” Mark retorted. “You can’t just go back in time and you don’t even exchange bodies with that guy anymore! You’re not God, Jaebeom.”

“I know that.” Jaebeom answered weakly. “I’m powerless. But still… I just want to save him, Mark. I don’t want to sit back and do nothing.”

They didn’t speak for a few minutes until Jackson broke the silence. “Jarbs, listen… I know this is stupid, but since we don’t have a smart solution, might as well try the dumb stuff, right…?”

Jaebeom lifted his head from his hands and stared at the youngest, waiting for him to speak. Mark leaned closer towards Jackson. The Hong Kong native cleared his throat, looking unsure with himself for possibly the first time in his life.

“Well – your phone, it has a manual date and time setting, doesn’t it…?”

\--

 ** _Jinyoung_** woke up, saw the corkboard on the wall, and instantly realized that he was in Jaebeom’s body.

How many times had it been, again? He had lost count of the number of times he exchanged bodies with the other. Living Jaebeom’s life nowadays almost felt as natural as living his own life. Sure, several things were still awkward – like how to behave in ways that won’t make Jaebeom appear cuter – but for most part of their daily lives, he could manage them well enough.

Jaebeom’s phone won’t stop buzzing ever since he woke up, but **_Jinyoung_** saw them and they were emails. One of the rules Jaebeom established for their exchange was that **_Jinyoung_** should never touch his emails, no matter who it was from. He was far more lenient with personal texts or calls, but emails were beyond the lines.

This time, though – Jinyoung wasn’t so sure if he had to stick to the rules or disobey it for once.

There were ten emails coming this morning and everything had the same subject – **_To Jinyoung._**

Even stranger still, they all came from Jaebeom’s own email address.

 _It should be okay, right? **Jinyoung**_ thought to himself. After all, the email had his _name_ on it. It was clearly intended towards him, sent by someone who _knew_ that he would be in Jaebeom’s body.

After contemplating for a few more minutes, he finally decided to open the message.

**_To Jinyoung._ **

**_Look, Jinyoung, this is going to sound really weird, and grim at the very least, but I need you to trust me and read this email to the end…_ **

\--

Jaebeom left the office with light footsteps.

He handed over his letter of resignation to the HR today. For the past few months, he and Brian had been working on some music together and with some stroke of luck, they scored a deal with an entertainment agency. It wasn’t the biggest agency out there, but it was a good start. If things went well, Jaebeom’s debut album would hit the market within a couple weeks.

Mark and Jackson had been nothing but supportive with his decision. More often than not, the two barged into Jaebeom and Brian’s studio late at night, bringing snacks and drinks for the musicians. Sometimes, they were joined by Jae and Dowoon – Brian’s friends and fellow musicians. With his circle of friends growing and his dreams slowly materializing in front of him, Jaebeom’s life couldn’t be better.

Nevertheless, the feeling of having forgotten something important often came back. Jaebeom often lie awake at night, thinking about the things he might have forgotten. Was it a person? Or some promises? He thought and thought and still he failed to find any clue. It was those thoughts that kept him guessing until early morning, doubting himself more and more every passing day.

_Who are you?_

_What are you?_

_Why can’t I remember anything about you?_

He was walking past a sushi shop when something halted his footsteps. The owner of the shop was putting up a new banner with a familiar scenery on it. Jaebeom stared at the scenery for a while, raking his brain for memories.

“Care to try our new menu? We only use freshest fish sent from our country’s best fishery islands!” The cheerful shop owner greeted him as he stepped down from the ladder, apparently noticing that Jaebeom had been standing there for quite a while. Jaebeom blinked in surprise.

“Ah- maybe later. I’m in a hurry right now but I’ll be back with my friends.”

“We’ll be glad to have you.” The shop owner disappeared behind the door with one last friendly smile and Jaebeom resumed his trip, albeit a lot slower. He was thinking about the scenery and the three soundless syllables that had been swimming in his head nonstop.

_Your name._

_What’s your name?_

\--

“Finally, it’s officially starting.”

Jinyoung and Youngjae were sitting on a bench near the harbor, watching people wander about and unload items from the boats. In the far corner of the harbor, Sungjin’s father was talking with some town officials and people from the mainland – engineers and other professionals, probably? They were checking off long lists, wanting to make sure that everything was according to regulations.

Jinyoung’s thoughts went back to last month when he woke up crying, his chest tightening almost painfully as he struggled with immense fear. Youngjae barged into his room and the younger had to hold him for the longest time to calm him down. He was having a bad dream, so Youngjae said – but Jinyoung wasn’t sure if that was the case. He didn’t remember anything about a bad dream.

Once he calmed down enough, he looked around in his room and was startled to find numerous scribbles.

On the walls, on the calendars, in his book – everywhere. It was written in bold black letters – a series of web links with the caption “open it!!” written underneath each one. Even when Jinyoung looked at his arms, he found the same series of links and caption written on both arms.

But one thing was different about the writing on his arms.

On his wrists, only three words were written.

**_I love you._ **

\--

_To Jinyoung._

_Look, Jinyoung, this is going to sound really weird, and grim at the very least, but I need you to trust me and read this email to the end._

_The agreement between your town and some fishery companies from the mainland has a lot of weaknesses. It allows dishonest boat owners to get away with not following regulations. Keep it going and it will kill the economy of your town._

_Or even the town itself._

_I have friends that are professionals in the fishery department, some engineers, and some others who are legal consultants. They know everything you need before signing an agreement to ensure economic development and safety of everyone. I have compiled everything they gave me in a series of documents. I need you to show them to the town major and urge him to postpone the agreement until everything is rechecked._

_Please do it, Jinyoung. Please trust me in this._

_Be safe._

_From J------._

\--

Against his better judgment, Jinyoung went and opened the links. The links directed him to a series of documents that appeared to contain rules and regulations for fishery development. There were instructions on how they should be implemented, contacts of related departments, and a letter to the town mayor.

At first, Jinyoung wasn’t sure what to do about the documents. He felt like it wasn’t his part to intervene, even more so when the agreements between the town and the mainland government was almost finalized. But when Sungjin heard about the documents, he barged into the town meeting and forced his father to read the entire thing. It was the first time Sungjin ever showed his fierceness in management, and Jinyoung was both scared and impressed. Sungjin’s father was a proficient leader himself, yet he couldn’t say a word when faced with his determined son. Thanks to Sungjin’s intervention, the agreement was postponed and everything was manually rechecked from scratch. Just as the letter predicted, they discovered plenty of dishonesty that could be damaging during the process.

And now, weeks after the documents were first discovered, the agreement was finalized, and their new harbor was officially open.

“I’m still surprised about the link you got, hyung. It’s like you have a guardian angel somewhere.” Youngjae grinned in excitement as he recalled the documents Jinyoung produced from the links. Jinyoung sighed, a small smile playing on his lips.

“I probably have one. Now if only I could remember who it was…”

Jinyoung cried when he saw the confession on his wrist. Somewhere out there, someone loved him enough to go beyond nature to save him. But one day after he discovered the documents, his memories disappeared. He couldn’t remember why or how he got the links. He couldn’t remember the emails. All that remained was a vague, dreamlike sort of memory.

“Don’t look so down, hyung. You’re going to the mainland today, aren’t you? Who knows if you’ll meet your guardian angel there?” Youngjae gave his shoulder a quick squeeze and Jinyoung smiled in response.

“Doubt it. I’m only going to a hospital in Busan, and my guardian angel is probably miles away in Seoul.”

“Well, you see, if it’s meant to be, then it will happen…”

\--

When Jaebeom saw the cute, innocent round face, he unconsciously reached out a hand towards that person.

“D-do I know you??”

The stranger looked surprised and a little scared, intonation going up and down in thick dialect as his wrist was trapped in Jaebeom’s strong grip. Jaebeom’s fingers loosened. He had no idea why he just grabbed a random person off the street, not to mention that it was a stranger he had never seen before.

Or was he? Jaebeom was pretty sure that he had seen that face before, somewhere. It was not as familiar as his friend’s faces, but it wasn’t completely foreign either. The clueless, otterlike expression, the mole under the eye – he _knew_ this person. He just couldn’t figure out where or how.

“So-sorry.” Jaebeom finally regained enough composure to let go of that person completely. He was still wondering where had he seen that face, but at least now he had enough sanity to not scare the person away. “I- I feel like I know you, but I’m not really sure…”

“Is that so?” The person tilted his head. “Well… I kind of doubt it. I mean, I’m not from around here. I only come to Seoul for my cousin…”

“Then maybe your cousin is the person I know!” Jaebeom quickly interjected. “If it’s not too much trouble, may I come with you to visit this cousin?”

The otter-faced stranger thought for a while. “Hm, well… I suppose it should be okay… but you won’t get an answer from him anyway.”

Jaebeom wondered what it meant, until he saw where the stranger was leading him.

“We were contemplating to bring him back home, but my cousin had always wanted to live in Seoul, so we decided to leave his ashes here.”

In front of him, there were rows and rows of small drawers where the urns were stored – each with a picture and a placard bearing the deceased’s name. As Jaebeom approached one of the drawers, he saw a familiar name and face.

 _Park Jinyoung_.

“My cousin had brain tumor. He came here to get treatments six months ago, but it was too late. He passed away last week.” The stranger – _Youngjae, that was his name_ – placed a flower and an incense in front of Jinyoung’s picture. Jaebeom only half listened to the explanation. His throat began to tighten as he traced the name with his fingertips.

_Jinyoung. Park Jinyoung. That was your name. I finally found you._

“Sorry – but how do you know my cousin? As far as I remembered, he never mentioned anyone like you. And I’m not sure if I’ve seen you around, either.”

Jaebeom wasn’t sure if he should explain the whole thing to Youngjae.

“I… saw him. In my dreams. I fell in love with him – I wanted to save him.” Jaebeom chuckled bitterly. “In the end, I couldn’t save you from nature, could I?”

“Jinyoung hyung told me about his strange dreams too when he was alive. Guardian angel that saved the island and all” Youngjae said softly. “If that was you in his dreams… I think you did save a part of him. Hyung always said that he hated our island, but deep inside, I think he wanted to protect it too. He knew how much I loved it.”

By that time, Jaebeom could no longer support his own weight and he dropped down to the floor crying. “I’m sorry.” He sobbed, clutching his own chest as if it’d make it hurt less. “I should’ve found you sooner. I should’ve been there when you…”

“You were.” Youngjae suddenly proclaimed, and Jaebeom looked up in confusion.

“You were there.” Youngjae’s voice began to tremble. “I was wondering why your name and voice sound kinda familiar, and now I remember why. That night, when Jinyoung hyung passed away—

— the TV station was playing your song. Jinyoung-hyung listened to it.”

 

_I think you need to listen to your friend Mark. Your songs are great._

_I would like to listen to your music someday._

_That was a good song, Jaebeom._

**Author's Note:**

> I can't decide which one should be Jaebeom's song but I was thinking between JJP's Find You/Don't Wanna Know or DAY6's I'll Remember.  
> Anyway yall know where to find me for death threats and stuff wink wonk (hint: it's @onionleader)


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